Charlotte Riley Joins Tom Cruise In All You Need Is Kill

Unless you're an ardent follower of British television or the life of Tom Hardy, you probably haven't heard of English actress Charlotte Riley. The striking brunette has appeared on numerous TV show and mini-series in her native land, including a made-for-TV movie adaptation of Wuthering Heights where co-starred with her now-fiancÚ Hardy. However, she hasn't yet had her breakthrough Stateside.

But this is about to change as Variety reports Riley has signed on to Warner Brothers' All You Need is Kill, an sci-fi action flick helmed by Bourne Identity director Doug Liman. Based on Hiroshi Sakurazaka's graphic novel, the film is being set up as a major tent pole release with Tom Cruise at its center. The Mission Impossible star will play a recruit in the United Defense Force tasked with confronting a deadly alien threat in open war. But when he dies on the battlefield, that's not the end of this soldier's story. Instead, he's put into a time loop of his final day. Forced to die again and again, he begins to seek a way out of this torment, and along the way becomes a better soldier. Riley will play a soldier who fights alongside Cruise's protagonist, as will The Adjustment Bureau star Emily Blunt.

While this is a great platform to introduce Riley to U.S. audiences, she may still be stung by the big role that got away: that of Selina Kyle in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. At one point, she was considered for the part that would not only have made her a worldwide star, but also re-team her with her fiancÚ. Of course, in the end it went to established star Anne Hathaway. But no matter, because now Riley will share the screen with one of America's biggest stars in a big budget production helmed by a groundbreaking action director. In short, expect to hear lots more about Charlotte Riley in the future.